2015/16 – What Happened?
Posted: Fri 4 November, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In a D4D™-traditional way, it’s time to look over the last year and make ready for the next year.
- Continue rebuilding finances.
- Continue with health/exercise/weight-loss stuff
- Write more
- Develop more things based around my own business
- Get out more
How did it go?
Rebuilding Finances
That was doing OK – well, still is – but took a bit of a hit with having to buy a new (to me) car last month. Until then, I’d more than doubled the savings from where they were last year, but for now they’re roughly where they were. A bit more than then, but not as much as I’d have liked. But there’s other reasons for that, which we’ll get to later…
Continuing Health/Exercise/Weight-loss
Again, I did OK on this. The health and exercise has kept up, although I haven’t been visiting the gym. Weight-wise, I lost some, then put it on, then lost it again, so again I’m back to pretty much where I was. I’d like to have lost more, but I can understand why I haven’t (and there’ve been some other insights this year that I’ll take into next year) Next year has its own challenges, with that walking Marathon next September.
Write More
I’ve been doing more writing, but they’re more works-in-progress than completed items. I’m still aiming to get more done, and that’s part of the plan for next year. Having taken one proper ‘retreat’ weekend last month, I think I’ll do more of them next year and hopefully come out with some finished pieces by the end of it.
Develop more things within my own business
Not quite so successful. I’ve laid a lot of the ground work for the coming year, and some of the stuff I’ve written for other projects will translate into the next phase, but no, most of the focus has been on paying clients. Particularly the main one, where the work has continued for much, much longer than I’d expected.
Get out more
Well, this one’s definitely been the success of this year. In fact, it’s the whole “going out” thing that’s put the mockers on the other things – particularly the savings and the weight loss! I think it’s actually gone to the other extreme, in that there haven’t been many weekends this year where I’ve not been out and about. I know that a lot of that, as I’ve said before, has been about having disposable income again for the first time in about a decade. That’s ended up with a bit of an over-reaction, but sanity and normality will return in 2016/17
Summary
All told, it’s been a good year. I’m pleased with most of it, although there are some bits I would’ve liked to do better, or differently in hindsight. But yeah, a good year.
Infected
Posted: Thu 3 November, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Single Life Leave a comment »Following on from last week’s hectic efforts, this week I’ve been walloped by a cough and cold that’s left me feeling rotten and run down.
I’m still doing all my normal stuff, of course, but evenings have definitely been quieter (and much needed) while coughing and sneezing enough to disturb the cats.
I’m not really surprised it’s happened – indeed, I’m more surprised that it hasn’t happened a lot earlier in the year. But what with messing around with my body clock (thanks, Daylight Saving) and slowing down just a bit after an exceptionally busy couple of months, it was always likely for something to hit me when resistance was low.
It would be nice for it to have dissipated by the weekend, as there’s a lot of food and stuff going on, but I’m not sure that’ll be the case. It won’t stop anything from happening, it’s just annoying.
13.1
Posted: Sun 23 October, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, 2016/17, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, London, Travel, Weigh Less Leave a comment »A while back, I laid out one of my main targets for next year, to do the Shine Nightwalk Marathon. And because of that, I also set myself the “lesser” challenge of walking a half-marathon, as a proof that I was at least capable of it.
I wanted to prove – as much to myself as to anyone else – that I could walk that 13.1 miles in a reasonable time, not fall apart by doing so (or afterwards) and really just that it was doable. I also wanted to be get a rough outline of how long it would take, to give myself a feasible target time come September.
Yesterday, with sod-all planning or training, I went down to London (might as well do the trial in the same kind of place as the actual event, after all) and did it.
It wasn’t as fast as I’d hoped for, but at the same time it was about what I expected. There’s still stuff to be done, and I’ll be working on all of it – more walks etc., better distances and better times – but for a first attempt, I’m pleased with how it went.
All told, I ended up walking about 15 miles in the end – as the map shows, the 13.1 miles took me so far, but I’d mis-judged things a bit, as I’d aimed for it be a lot closer to my destination at Euston station. Instead, I was a couple of miles away, so ended up still walking those miles back to Euston as well. (As has been said before, I’m a bloody idiot on occasion)
I’m less sure now that I’ll be able to do it in my intended six hour target, but an eight-hour will be certainly be doable, with seven being (I think) realistic, and I’ll be happy with that, although I’ll continue to aim towards the lower times and see how I do. I slowed down significantly after about 8 or 9 miles, which was partly being tired, but also partly being held up by lots of slow-moving people.
I hurt a lot less than expected afterwards, too. Sore feet and some muscle aching in my legs, but that’s about it.
I’m pleased that I’ve done it, and that I’ve proved to myself I can do the full thing. I know the full thing is still double that distance, and that it’s still a big thing to complete, but I do feel more confident now that it’s something I can do.
Booked in Advance
Posted: Thu 20 October, 2016 Filed under: 1BEM, 2016/17, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Considering that I’m planning on a quieter year in 2017 without quite so many busy weekends, is it a good or bad thing that I’ve already got two things booked in for September 2017?
And of course, me being me, they’re both on the same weekend.
I suspect I may just be an irredeemable idiot.
2016’s Smaller Target
Posted: Thu 1 September, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, 2016/17, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Following on from my decision about next year, and doing the Shine Moonlight Marathon (which is a much better name than the Night Walk, IMHO) I’ve also set myself a smaller challenge for completion by the end of 2016.
You guessed it, I’m going to walk a half-marathon distance. Not sponsored or owt (although if I do it, I might just chuck some money Cancer Research’s way anyway) but a bit of a reality check, a “can I do this?”. I know the answer to that is “yes”, but it’ll be interesting to have some quantifiable evidence of it before I plunge into doing the full 26-and-a-bit miles.
I’ve certainly done days with more than 13 miles of walking, so this plan should be utterly doable. Indeed, it might even be easier than usual, if it’s done in one dollop rather than two 5-ish mile walks interspersed with breaks, food, stopping/starting, standing in queues etc. I don’t know – and that’s why I want to find out.
It’ll also hopefully give me a rough outline of the time to aim for on the full event. I’ve got a target time in mind, but again want to check whether that’s even vaguely feasible when faced with reality.
I’ll write more about it once it’s been done, but it’s definitely a goal for now…
2017’s Big Target
Posted: Tue 30 August, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »This year, I’ve missed out on having a big thing to aim at. (Oooer, missus) The last couple of years, I’ve done Marie Curie’s “Walk to Remember”, an evening 10km walk around a random local-ish stately home, which have been fun, and suited me really well. However, this year they decided to not organise them.
I did sign up this year for the challenge to climb the stairs of the Gherkin in London, but I ended up chickening out of it in the fact of saner voices and already-dodgy knees (No, not dodgyknees the Greek philosopher)
Anyway, although I’ve been doing a lot of walking this year, I’ve missed having a target, a thing to aim for at some point. So I’ve pretty much decided on what my plan will be for 2017. It’s a big one, so there’ll actually be some preparation in the meantime.
So – my challenge for 2017 will be Shine’s Night Walk – an overnight walk of marathon distance in Central London. That’s 26.25 miles, or 41 km, so it’s significantly longer than the distances I usually walk. I can (and do) easily cover 20km in a day when I’m in London or whatever, but I will be aiming at doing more (and longer) walks between now and then, getting used to the durations and distances. I’m pretty sure I could do the walk right now, but I think I’d hurt quite a bit the day after, and I don’t want that to be the case in a year’s time.
So yes, that’s the plan. I can’t sign up for it yet (this year’s one hasn’t been done yet) but will do as soon as I can. In the meantime, I can start getting my ass in gear, now I’ve got a plan in mind.
Eating Well For Less
Posted: Mon 22 August, 2016 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Brands, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances, Food, Health, Laziness, People, Shopping, Television, Thoughts Leave a comment »Over the last few weeks, I’ve been watching the BBC’s “Eat Well For Less” series. It’s an interesting concept, helping people with their eating habits (and more accurately, their spending on food) by removing all the labelling and branding from food in people’s houses, removing all the prejudices etc. around their food spending. They replace expensive branded stuff with ‘own-brand’ or cheaper alternatives (and in some cases with more expensive, but better/healthier options) and also leaving some things alone. Additionally, they help people with recipes for their favourite meals, rather than buying pre-packaged and so on.
A lot of it is insanely annoying, but the core information is (in my opinion) worth it, for both the families on the programme, and people watching it.
But oh Dear God, those families are fucking pathetic. There’s lots of preconceptions about brands being preferred “because they wouldn’t be so popular if they weren’t the best” and so on, which drives me crackers.
The most recent one tonight, though, drove me crackers. One family member had been diagnosed as coeliac, and had spent six years eating salads he hated. Six. Fucking. Years. How does anyone end up eating stuff they don’t like for six bloody years? There’s no logic in it that I can see – unless they haven’t done any enquiries or research about what’s got gluten in and so on?
In this case they were buying loads of pre-packaged food – and I get that more, because they were so worried about cross-contaminating from their foods to his, and making him ill – but with no thoughts or understanding. I think the peak point for me was buying pre-packaged “gluten-free” rice, not understanding that all rice is gluten-free, in the name of Jesus H Pant-shitting Christ.
So yeah, it’s been an interesting series, but Holy DogEggs, some people are fucking lazy/stupid/pathetic*.
(* Delete as applicable)